Yale Earns 10th Straight NCAA Team Championship Bid

May 17, 2011

Bulldogs Are Defending Varsity Eight Champions

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale women's crew is heading back to Lake Natoma. The Bulldogs received a berth in the NCAA Championship for the 10th straight year when the 16-team field was announced on Tuesday. The three-day championship begins on May 27 in Gold River, Calif. Yale will field two boats of eight rowers each one boat of four rowers.

"For this team to reach the NCAA Championships, it's a heck of an accomplishment. I'm really proud of their effort." said Yale head coach Will Porter. "It's what we've worked for as a program since day one. We're excited to go to California and put our best foot forward."

Four other Ivy League teams – Princeton, Brown, Harvard and Dartmouth – also qualified. The rest of the field is California, Clemson, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Southern California, Stanford, Virginia, Washington, Washington State and Wisconsin.

The Bulldogs, ranked ninth in the latest CRCA-US Rowing national poll, are coming off the Eastern Sprints on Sunday. Yale finished fourth in the varsity eight, second in the second varsity and third in the varsity four.

Yale is making its 11th overall appearance in the team championships. The Bulldogs' best finish came in 2004 when they were second. Yale has had at least one boat win a grand final in each of the last four years. The varsity eight finished first in 2007, 2008 and 2010 and the second varsity won in 2009.

Virginia is the defending champion. The Bulldogs placed sixth last year.

The Lake Natoma course has been very kind to Yale over the years. The Bulldogs' second place team finish and two of their varsity eight titles have occurred there.